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On World AIDS Day, reasons to celebrate

A color-enhanced view of an HIV-infected immune cell. / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

What’s worth celebrating on World AIDS Day this Sunday? Plenty.

Scientists have found that people who discover their status early in the course of their infection have an excellent chance at living a long life. That’s because good antiviral treatments exist, and starting them early offers the best chance at staying healthy.

All week long, events throughout Palm Beach County will mark World AIDS Day with opportunities for free rapid tests. There will also be free movies, health fairs, MAC makeovers, and a candlelight vigil and walk, to remember those who have died.

HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, is the virus that causes AIDS. The disease is spread through unprotected sex and needle sharing. It can also be spread by pregnant or nursing women to their babies, so testing and treatment is especially important for expectant mothers.

HIV infects and destroys immune cells, so that every-day germs and some cancers spread unchecked and become killers.

Efforts to develop an effective vaccine to prevent the spread of HIV have disappointing so far, but at The Scripps Research Institute, immunologist Dennis Burton has found an antibody that seems effective at attacking most strains of HIV. He’s now leading a group of scientists across the nation who are working to develop a more reliable vaccine.

Meanwhile, the hunt continues for new and better drugs. At Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Jonathan P. Schneck and colleagues have found a possible drug target in an unlikely protein called Sprouty-2. That protein interferes with some immune cells’ ability to latch onto disease-causing agents. Blocking Sprouty-2 could restore the fight to the exhausted immune cells, he reasons. The research is in an early stage.

It was less than 20 years ago that doctors first proposed fighting HIV with a cocktail of antiviral drugs. Today, more than 90 different drugs exist. They stop the virus different stages in its life cycle so that it can’t make copies of itself.

This has translated into a life expectancy for HIV-positive people that’s potentially only 7 years less than the general public, according to one British study. But the key is, the infection must be discovered and treated early.

There are several places in Palm Beach County offering low or no-cost tests: